Texans reap rewards of grand openings

The Texans spent most of last season frantically trying — and failing — to play catch-up. Their 6-10 record provided sufficient proof that was a failed business model.

“We knew we had to find a way to get off to better starts,” tight end Owen Daniels said. “Everybody in this locker room has made it a goal, a focal point for us.”

This year has seen a dramatically different mindset, an almost maniacal sense of urgency from the get-go in quarterback Matt Schaub’s huddle. While much has been made of the team’s almost-worst-to-first defensive renaissance, the offense’s about-face capacity to take quick control has been equally helpful.

Call it a hand-in-glove transformation. And call the AFC South-leading Texans 6-3, a franchise high-water mark. In 2010, they needed 17 weeks and 16 games to win for a sixth time.

“The reason we’re winning right now is because we’re playing good as a football team,” receiver Kevin Walter said. “(The offense and the defense) are feeding off each other.”

When the Texans, winners of three in a row, play at Tampa Bay on Sunday, there’s no reason to expect any sudden reversals of fortune. Although the Buccaneers are 4-4, that’s a shaky .500. They’re tied for last in the league in yards allowed per snap and 30th in total yards allowed.

The Texans’ fast and furious starts — only at Baltimore have they failed to score in the first period or not lead at the end of the quarter — have given the rebuilt, re-energized defense a series of cushions it rarely enjoyed during last season’s ordeal. The importance of the psychological boost can’t be overstated.

“There’s such a positive feeling when you go out on the field for the first time seven-nothing,” linebacker Brian Cushing said. “It really gets you going.”

Added Schaub: “If we can give (the defense) a lead, it allows them to cut loose on opposing offenses. The other day (against the Browns), we scored, then they got a turnover, and we scored again. It’s already 14-0, and the playbook opens up for both of us. (The defense) can player a little looser, a little more free. When you start fast on teams, you can deflate them a little bit.”

Really tough at Reliant

To a man, the Texans realize it’s not a coincidence the team with the NFL’s most assertive first-quarter offense — Houston 71, everybody else 16 — also is the team with the league’s No. 1-ranked defense. Contrast that to last season when the Texans were outscored 96-53 over the opening 15 minutes. Only twice did they cross the goal line on their first possession in 2010.

They’ve celebrated in the end zone straight from the chute five times already this year.
Note, too, that Tampa Bay has been outscored 44-21 in first quarters this season.

“With Schaubie out there (for the coin flip),” Daniels said, “you better believe we’re taking the ball every time. It’s a big difference getting up early and putting a team in a hole. We know. We’ve been on that side of things.”

It’s not a coincidence the only game the Texans weren’t in until the bitter end was also the one in which they failed to assert themselves at the outset. That was against the Ravens’ shut-down defense, which handed the Texans their lone first-quarter goose egg to date.

Their early dominance has been especially auspicious at Reliant Stadium, where they’ve won the first quarter 52-6 and outgained opponents 582 yards to 139, with a first-down disparity of 35-9. Further, the Texans have yet to control the ball for less than nine of the first 15 minutes.

Pause that refreshes

The first-half statistical imbalance isn’t quite as pronounced in their favor (148 points scored, 45 allowed), but it represents a quantum leap as well. How important do you think it is that the offense has stayed on the field for nearly 26 more minutes than the defense in this year’s first halves?

“The way the offense is moving the ball, they’re giving us a chance to get a breather,” defensive captain DeMeco Ryans said, smiling. “It’s good being on the sidelines, sitting back and watching the offense do all the work.”
dale.robertson@chron.com